Painting a pale face, Chaos Warriors

Hello fellow Wizards!

Here’s a step by step on how you can paint pale human faces on your 28mm scale miniatures. 

1. Start with a basecoat of Bugmans Glow mixed 3:1 with Rhinox Hide. I always like to basecoat with 2-3 thin coats of paint. A good foundation is very important, as the basecoat will have a crucial impact on the final outcome. Take your time with the steps, let the paint dry completely. 

2. Next, start highlighting, using Cadian Fleshtone. Apply this as a series of thin glazes. 

When I say glaze - I mean watered down paint. A perfect glaze consistency for me usually means paint mixed in 1:2 ratio with water or medium (I only use water). 

Painting with thin glazes allows you to make smooth transitions and have absolute control over the final outcome. You can always add more if you wish. But if you go too far, it's very hard to comeback from that. 

3. Follow the previous step with adding some shadows with watered down Khorne Red. You want to add this very carefully and only to places, where it makes sense.

This will add some life to the face. We are full of blood and it shows sometimes, especially if you are nervous or cold.

4. Next, add some Rhinox Hide mixed with water. Use it to outline the eyes, ears, hair and the mouth. 

5. Now we will go back to adding highlights. 

Use Cadian Fleshtone mixed 2:1 with Screaming Skull (or Ivory from AK Interactive) to outline the areas that will be the brightest in the future. Again, I recommend doing this in glazes. 

6. Use the same two paints but add more of the brighter color - reverse the ration from 2:1 to 1:2. Be sure to cover only a part of the previously highlighted area. This will create a smooth transitions between the colors. 

7. Add a extreme highlight with Ivory from Ak Interactive (Pallid Wych Flesh or Screaming Skull will also work here). We are now adding the final, brightest highlight. Add this sparingly. Less is more and you can always add more if you wish.

8. Now, the part that everyone fears the most - eyes! Draw a white line (any brand), dragging the paint from the nose towards the ears. If you do it from the ears towards the nose, there is a very good chance of leaving a white dot on the bridge of the nose. 

9. After you have drawn the line, get some dark black paint and very carefully, add a dot in the eye. Use a circular motion to add it. This will allow you to not stress about having just one chance at placing the perfect tiny black dot in the eye. You now have the ability to draw a perfect, round pupil and not mess up the whole face. Make the pupil big enough if you don't want to make your miniature look like it's surprised. 

I will not go into detail on how to paint the hair, teeth or the other parts of the mouth in this tutorial but this will surely be covered in the future.

Cheers,
Mamikon